Chris Murakami's Report on: "Being a Driving Buddy - What's It Like"
I chose this report because the title of his report ("Being a Driving Buddy...') caught my attention and since I'm in my car for about two hours per day being on behind the wheel is a major part of my daily routine. I make the daily commute to school and travel on average about 300 miles a week, so I spend a lot of time in my car . The initial impression I got from this report is that many us are not as good drivers as we think we are, and there is always room for improvement in driving skills and etiquette in all of us .
While searching through the various reports in prior generations the things that I looked for besides content quality were: overall neat appearance (i.e. easy to read, no clashing of background and text), quick loading time, and total length of page (after spending several hours a day staring at a computer screen can be quite draining and often gives me a pretty bad headache, so short, sweet, and to the point is what I looked for. Chris' page was a bit long but the content material was of particular interest to me since the automobile is my choice of transportation . And to be totally honest the title is what caught my attention because I actually thought that a "driving buddy" meant something else. I thought the term "driving buddy" was something like a carpool partner.
The topic of his report was about aggressive drivers how these type of drivers present potentially dangerous situations every time the get behind the wheel. An "aggressive driver" is one who dictates the situation on the road or in other words is an "offensive driver" who drives without regard for other drivers. He goes on to tell us how people with this type of personality behind the wheel can be helped through the implementation of a "driving buddy". A "driving buddy" is defined as a person who rides along and gives the driver feedback about his/her driving skills. He then gives us an example of an experiment done with a "driving buddy". In the experiment the test subject, who is given the name Larry Bruno, will be accompanied by a "driving buddy" over a two day period. On the first day the buddy will just observe and make provide commentary on driving style and on the second day Larry will drive according to how the "driving buddy" dictates. Observations are given about how Mr. Bruno fails to make complete stops at stop signs, tailgates those who incite him, how he fails to show courtesy to cars attempting to merge, etc... . The report continues by telling us that Mr. Bruno was reluctant in giving in to the suggestions of the "buddy" (i.e. not following cars too close, don't tailgate), but eventually gave in and realized that his driving style jeopardized others on the road and that he could improve his driving skills.
My initial reaction was that there are a lot of "aggressive drivers" loose on our roadways and that they should all read this article. Then I thought about the times when I may have drove aggressively and how stupid I was to do so. This report is one that I can really relate to because often I am placed in some hairy situations caused by "aggressive drivers" and I wish that whoever they are, they will one day realize the danger the pose to others.
Compared to other pages this one had
very few images, which kept loading time to a minimal. Personally,
I prefer few pictures and feel that if the material is interesting pictures
will be a simple distraction.
Ryan Mitsui's Report on: "Tailgating"
Well I chose this report because
it seemed to be a good follow-up with the first one I chose. Tailgating
is a behavior that was discussed in the first report I chose and I just
thought I'd get a little more in-depth on the subject. It also didn't
hurt that this report was quite short, but it provided a personal experience
as well as discussing the morality of tailgating.
As I mentioned above this report seemed like it would be a good follow-up to "Being a Driving Buddy", since the main topic of that report was about driving personalities, namely "aggressive driving". As I searched through various reports the thing that caught my eye on this particular one was his own personal experience being tailgated. I could easily relate to this since it has happened top me on numerous occasions throughout the years and I was eager to read about what he had to say.
The questions asked in his report were whether or not there are any "moral implications to tailgating?...is it ethical? fair? justifiable? or spiritually wrong?". Ryan begins his report with responses from students about how they feel about tailgating and the consensus seems to indicate that tailgating is a way of trying to make the car in front of them go faster or move out of the way so that they may drive faster. Ryan states that he only tailgates "when other people do it to me first", but in no way does it justify his actions. Our own will should not be forced onto others and people should learn to be patient and tolerant to those that are not yet mature enough to share the roadways. We should not waste our time worrying about these types of drivers, it's not worth the stress. We should also think about how the other person feels if we are the one doing the tailgating, who knows what kind of person may be driving the other vehicle? That person may get paranoid and begin driving scared or maybe he/she may get upset and try to retaliate by driving aggressively trying to get back at you for tailgating, know there's two reckless and upset drivers on the road. The next time that we are placed in this situation we should take a deep breath and think before we act.
I enjoyed reading this report because
he shared a personal experience that all of us that drive can relate to
in some way. He also brought up a good point about the stress that
associated with being involved in this type of potentially hostile and
dangerous situation. Is it really worth the stress? No... everything
associated with tailgating can be avoided if we recognize the situation
quickly and try to avoid it by changing lanes to let the car pass or pulling
over to the side of the road.
Although Ryan's report was quite short, the content
was very informative and eye-opening in the way that he discussed a situation
that can be easily related to by all who drive. One thing that bothered
me was that the number of grammatical errors in such a short report was
quite high.
Chie Ginama's report on: "Identifying Attitudes Through Newsgroup Messages"
What led me to this report was that as I was searching through various generations I looked for any topic that was of some interest to me. This particular article was of my interest because I often browse through, but rarely participate in various newsgroups. Whether or not I even bother to look in depth at a newsgroup on a certain day is usually determined by reading the first few posts and by doing so I can get a feel of the attitudes of an ongoing discussion. And after reading a little of this report it seemed interesting and I wanted to read further about what was to be said about attitudes and newsgroups.
The topic of this report was about attitudes and newsgroups. It was about two newsgroups in particular, Toronto Troubles and Daily Gripe: Lights on in the Rain, and the attitudes of the members within the group. The report describes the various types of attitudes of newsgroup members which are: Your average newsgroup member who just read messages and reply to them. The Wise Ass: those who think they know more and think they are better than everyone else in the group, often responding with a very sarcastic tone (e.g. And your point about this is...??? This was a response given to a discussion about an observation that many vehicles that drove with there headlights off were driven by men.). The Flamers: very rude with dumb and irrelevant remarks that are off base (no example given in report). People Who Go Off the Subject: in a discussion about aggressive drivers in New York someone started talking about sex, spam, and green eggs and ham. And, People Who Continue To Go Off with the Subject: those who go even further off the subject than the previous described group, just use your imagination on this one it could be about anything.
My reaction to this report was that she was pretty right on the money in describing the various attitudes in various newsgroups. No matter what newsgroup you're in it's just about the same when it comes to attitudes. I would like to add a of attitude type that was not mentioned. Those who either have no idea where they are (or what planet they're on). You know the type that is totally lost in the conversation at hand and must be constantly reminded, that what he's talking about was already discussed in prior discussions. Other than that, I would say that I enjoyed reading through this report because it gives insight to those who are not familiar with newsgroups on what to expect when they get into one.
The descriptions and examples given
were very clear and sometimes a little more than I wanted to know, but
were necessary in explaining how way off some people are in discussions.
Chie's presentation was laid out very well.
I really liked the use of very minimal, but effective icons in the page.
The navigation table of was mapped out very clearly and I liked the way
that it was laid out, not in the usual columns or table, but spread out
across the page with good spacing to make it enjoyable to look at.
Ryan Shintani's Report on: Portrayls
of Driving Behavior on TV: Does life imitate art? And is it a good thing?
The reason I chose this report is because
it talks about something that we all ask ourselves when we see it on TV,
"how can he crash (his car) like that and then walk away from it???.
I mean I know that it's a TV show, but come on now let's be realistic.
So this reports topic, TV Driving behavior and does life imitate art?,
presented itself as something that I wanted to look further into.
As I was searching through numerous pages several things about Ryan's page caught my attention. Being that I drive everyday and also watch some television whenever possible I could already relate to his title. As I read further through his page I also was familiar with a movie (Top Gun) and a cartoon (The Simpsons) that he reviewed for his report.
In his report he reviewed several movies (Metro, Days of Thunder, and Top Gun), commercials (Nissan Pathfinder, Dodge Neon, Ford Contour, and Penzoil motor oil), and cartoons (Power Rangers Turbo, The Adventures of Batman and Superman, and The Simpsons). He chose these specific shows based on its interest appeal to him. He gave his observations of a specific part of each show and then analyzed and evaluated it comparing it to reality. Then he rated each show based on three categories; action, danger, and realism; and used a ratings system using a scale of 0 - 5 (0 = very real and true to life, 5 = impossible or unrealistic in a real life situation) to determine the degree of which each show had and then added them all up to tally a total score for each. Examples of his system for movie would be a scene in the movie "Top Gun" in which a character played by Kelly McGillis' chases after (with her car) Tom Cruise who is speeding away on his motorcycle. She runs a red light and then is almost hit by two cars driving through the intersection. When he finally stops she says that she chased him so she could talk to him to tell that she loves him. He rates it Realism = 2, Action = 1 , and Danger = 5 for a total of 7, but he gives no reason for his scores in his analysis and evaluation. Instead he talks about the emotion of love, a persons "needs" and that he didn't like the scene because it "gives the viewer the idea that one persons needs supersedes the safety and lives of others". He goes on to describe several car commercials and cartoons in the same manner.
After reading his report thoroughly
I began to have a new sense of appreciation for his involvement in doing
his report. When watching television or a movie it is so easy to
get caught up in it to realize what is actually going on, to read about
someone who has actually taken the time to separate fantasy and reality
in a movie should be applauded for his effort
Although his page lacked icons I still found
it easy to look at because of good use of spacing throughout his report,
especially in separating his ratings from his reviews and observations.
Ryan's report was quite different from others in that he developed a system and ratings scale to evaluate his findings. It was a very ingenious way to present a report and was very enjoyable to look over.
I would say that it's very hard to compare other students report's to each other. Each student has their own personal preference to what catches their attention and what they find interesting. Since we had a chance to scan over the reports from 7 previous generations, I found almost all of them quite interesting. Because at this point I am still learning about page designing and marvel at all works of the prior generations
One suggestion that I have for others
in future generations is that they should make a lot of time in their schedule,
especially if you are not familiar with a computer and the web.
Working on the web is not as easy as you may
think (at least in the beginning), but once you get used to it, it's not
that bad. Still, it is very time consuming and very hard on the eyes!
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